It’s no secret that Mark Ruffalo is one of the best and most likable actors out there right now. Not only is he immensely skilled, he just appears to be beloved as a human being as well. Ruffalo has broken through in a bigger way over the last few years, both in terms of Oscar nominations and also bigger budget films. He’s already a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but now he can list Now You See Me as another movie franchise of his. This week, Now You See Me 2 opens in theaters and should only increase Ruffalo’s A-list star power, rightly so, I might add.
The film is a sequel to Now You See Me, the surprise hit from a few years back. It concerns a magic act that also doubles as a Robin Hood type heist team. Ruffalo plays Dylan Rhodes, who in the last flick was hunting The Four Horsemen, but now he’s teamed up with them and almost a mentor of sorts. When a potentially evil tech genius ropes them into pulling off a heist for him, the vigilante group is faced with their biggest act of magic yet. Essentially, it’s more of the same, combining magic with a crime thriller, but apparently crowd pleasing as well. Jon M. Chu directs from a script written by Ed Solomon ( with story credit to Pete Chiarelli), and the cast is pretty A list besides Ruffalo, including Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Lizzy Caplan, Dave Franco, Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Jay Chou, Sanaa Lathan, and more.

For my money, few are more due an Academy Award than Ruffalo is. Yes, he’s been nominated three times in the Best Supporting Actor category (for Foxcatcher, The Kids Are All Right, and Spotlight), but he’s yet to be cited in Best Actor and is overdue a win, not just a nomination. He’s shown tremendous range, which you don’t always see from someone, and his varied career shows no signs of slowing down. It’s a matter of if, not when, for Ruffalo to win, so once he has the right vehicle, I suspect that he’ll steamroll through the awards season. The precursors will pick him up and push him to the podium on Oscar night before long, mark my words.

Ruffalo now officially has a pair of franchises in his back pocket, which is a good place for his career to be […]

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As you all know by now, plenty of folks in the industry can go a whole career without ever winning an Oscar. As such, that makes for a ton of heavyweights in Hollywood who are very overdue for wins. Much like I did last week with people who have never been nominated, I’m going to be citing today ten actors or actresses who have yet to win Oscars but deserve to already have one on their mantle. All of these previous nominees were in contention at some point this year, believe it or not, and many will hopefully be winners within the next few years. Keep in mind that this is just my humble opinion, but take a look below at who I think is most overdue a little gold man…

Here now are ten actors/actresses who are overdue for an Academy Award:
10. Carey Mulligan – It might surprise a lot of you to know that Mulligan only has one Oscar nomination, for her breakthrough performance in An Education. She seems like she’s been nominated more than that, right? Well, that hasn’t happened, and while Suffragette didn’t do it for her this year, it feels like many more nominations are in her future, and as such, a solid chance at a win. I’d be shocked if she doesn’t wind up with an Oscar one day.
9. Johnny Depp – For a bit, it seemed like Depp was going to finally win for his role this year in Black Mass. Mostly though, it served as a reminder that he’s out there and still without a victory. Depp has a pocket of supporters who always push him when he’s in an awards friendly vehicle, so while I might prefer his recent outings in Kevin Smith movies, he’s probably only one safe prestige project away from getting to that stage.
8. Ellen Page – Another talented actress with only one nomination, she potentially should have won for Juno, but since then has been shut out. Had Freeheld been more of a contender, I think Page not only would have gotten a Best Supporting Actress nomination, she’d have easily been the frontrunner. Her time is still to come, it seems, but never count her out…
7. Will Smith – Much like with Depp, but to a greater extent, it seemed at one point in 2015 like it was finally going to be Smith’s year. Concussion wound up getting […]

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Folks, something kind of strange is going on with these early precursors. Well, maybe not strange, but noteworthy at the least. Basically, as Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight continues to establish itself as the Best Picture frontrunner at the Oscars, its grip on acting nominations is loosening more and more. What initially seemed like a slam dunk for at least one nomination in Best Supporting Actor (if not one in Best Supporting Actress as well), things have gotten much more complicated and fluid. Pundits like myself were trying at one point to figure out if either Michael Keaton or Mark Ruffalo would have a Supporting Actor statue on their mantle, but now we’re trying to figure out if both will get snubbed, leading to the following question…can the film still win Best Picture if it doesn’t have any acting nominees?
As a reminder, the movie is a dramatized look at the Boston Globe reporters who broke the story about the Catholic Church covering up the molestations committed by priests. At the paper, an investigative section called “Spotlight” begins looking into the rumors and uncovers a huge scandal. The plot mostly follows along as the small group does the nitty gritty work of gathering indisputable evidence for the story. McCarthy directs and co-writes with Josh Singer, while the cast is led by the aforementioned Keaton and Ruffalo, with the others in this top notch ensemble including Billy Crudup, Brian d’Arcy James, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci, and a handful more. Everyone is doing brilliant work here, trust me, so it’ll be a shame if these snubs do continue.
Why is this happening? Basically, it seems like the popularity of Spotlight hasn’t coalesced around one actor, leading to a major case of vote splitting. Not only have Keaton and Ruffalo split votes with each other, but they both have also split with the likes of Schreiber an Tucci as well. Now, McAdams missing here and there is just as puzzling due to how weak Supporting Actress is, but the whole thing is very strange. It doesn’t seem to be hurting the film, but you do have to wonder if that can remain as such throughout the rest of the season…
If Spotlight were to still win Best Picture without anyone in the cast getting nominated (be it Keaton or Ruffalo in Supporting Actor or McAdams in Supporting Actress), it would be only the 12th […]

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Last night, the 25th annual Gotham Awards held their ceremony in New York City and made an early claim to setting the precursor tone. As often the first group to not only put out nominations but announce their winners, they more or less can establish very early frontrunners when the titles in contention are already Oscar hopefuls. That’s the case this year, as films like Carol, Grandma, I’ll See You in My Dreams, Love & Mercy, Room, and Spotlight were already Academy Award players. Spotlight turned out to be the main victor last night, winning in every category it was nominated in, so if you believe in momentum, the early momentum decidedly favors it, with other precursors still to come this week, and even later on today.
The big winner, of course, was Spotlight, as the movie took Best Feature, Best Screenplay for Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, as well as a special Jury Prize for the ensemble cast (announced as Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci and Brian D’Arcy James). Spotlight seems like the one to beat across the board, though again, it’s early. My hunch is that something else emerges as a main challenger, but the precursors will continue to heavily cite it as the year moves forward. McCarthy didn’t have a Director category to win here, though Feature more or less counts towards it, but bet on him doing very well when those do exist with other groups. If you want to take something else away from Gotham, it’s that Paul Dano is a looming threat in Best Supporting Actor for Love & Mercy. He won Best Actor here and I’ll be writing more about him soon, so just keep him in mind. Other winners here included Bel Powley pulling a surprise win in Best Actress for The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Mya Taylor winning Breakthrough Actor for Tangerine, and more. Overall, a very interesting night…
Here now is the full list of winners (as well as nominees) at the 25th annual Gotham Awards:
Best Feature
Carol
Todd Haynes, director; Elizabeth Karlsen, Tessa Ross, Christine Vachon, Stephen Woolley, producers (The Weinstein Company)
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Marielle Heller, director; Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck, Madeline Samit, Miranda Bailey, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
Heaven Knows What
Josh and Benny Safdie, directors; Oscar Boyson, Sebastian Bear-McClard, producers (RADiUS)
*Spotlight* Winner
Tom McCarthy, director; Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagan Faust, […]

Ahoy folks. I’ve been tackling Academy Award and Golden Globe predictions for a while now, as you all know, but there are of course other awards and/or precursors worth mentioning. Over the rest of the season, I’ll be trying to figure those out too, with today marking the starting point for 2015 as I attempt to decode what the Screen Actors Guild might do (with today also Black Friday, as we all do shopping, voters in various precursors are watching screeners). SAG is one of the most important precursors, mainly because it shows off what the acting branch of the Academy might be thinking. This year, with such a wide open race in almost all categories, you have to imagine that SAG will be one of the biggest guild announcements of the year.
Below you’ll see my predictions in all of the SAG categories, but keep in mind that it’s early and they’re completely subject to change. For example, I’ve hung back on going overboard on some films like Joy while going out on a few limbs that make more sense now than they likely will during crunch time. In any event…here you go:
Best Actor isn’t nearly as packed as in prior year, so make of that what you will. Last year, SAG went four out of five (nominating Steve Carell, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Keaton, and Eddie Redmayne…Gyllenhaal was swapped out for Bradley Cooper in Oscar’s lineup). Redmayne won here on his road to the Academy Award win, so that’s worth noting as well. At this point, it’s wide open for the win folks…
Michael Caine – Youth
Matt Damon – The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl
Alternates: Johnny Depp (Black Mass) and Will Smith (Concussion)
Prediction: Leonardo DiCaprio
With Best Actress, we’re going to have to look to see which direction voters go, though in year’s past they haven’t been too much help. Last time around SAG went four out of five with Oscar (only having to sub out Jennifer Aniston for Marion Cotillard, as Felicity Jones, Julianne Moore, Rosamund Pike, and Reese Witherspoon all made the cut), so I’d expect a close relationship between the two awards once again. Still, it’s going to be hard for them to resist the younger ladies here here.
Cate Blanchett – Carol
Brie Larson – Room
Jennifer Lawrence – Joy
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Lily Tomlin – Grandma
Alternates: Blythe Danner (I’ll See […]

There isn’t a whole lot that pundits can agree up on in regards to the Oscar race right now, but one thing seems to be that Spotlight is the one to beat currently in Best Picture. Tom McCarthy’s film is in a great position right now, as you’ll see in my updated predictions this week (later on today, to be precise). If voting were to be held today, the movie would win Picture in a landslide, though obviously it’s still early goings. That being said, I think the more time passes this season, the more likely it is that this flick is going to become the inevitable winner.
The film is a dramatized look at the Boston Globe reporters who broke the story about the Catholic Church covering up the molestations committed by priests. At the paper, an investigative section called “Spotlight” begins looking into the rumors and uncovers a huge scandal. The plot mostly follows along as the small group does the nitty gritty work of gathering indisputable evidence for the story. McCarthy directs and co-writes with Josh Singer, while the cast is led by Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo, with the others in this top notch ensemble including Billy Crudup, Brian d’Arcy James, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci, and more. Everyone is doing brilliant work here, trust me.
Full disclosure now ladies and gentlemen…Spotlight is my favorite movie of the year so far. It’s a perfectly crafted drama that will enrage, move, and thrill you. Seriously, it’s so well done that I wouldn’t change a frame of it. Keaton and Ruffalo especially are amazing here, with the former delivering one of my top five performances of 2015 to date, regardless of category or gender. He will break your heart, I swear. Ruffalo is the MVP to me, but your mileage may vary. That being said, it’s hard for anyone to see this and not be in love. It’s cinematic gold, plain and simple folks.
So what’s the competition here for Best Picture? If we remove the unseen three from the equation (The Hateful Eight, Joy, and The Revenant), the only legitimate challengers to the throne for Spotlight seem to be Brooklyn, The Martian, and Room, with the latter two the most realistic. Things might be more competitive in other categories, like Best Director or Best Original Screenplay, but there isn’t a main challenger in Picture right now. Some […]

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It doesn’t often happen, but every so often a category in the Oscar race will have multiple contenders from the same feel competing for nominations. Ironically, this year seems to have an abundance of them, making for a potentially interesting Academy Awards race when all is said and done. In fact, a number of these players actually have realistic chances as well, with Carol, The Hateful Eight, and Spotlight chief among them. I figured that today was a good time to take a look at these contenders and see just who could potentially go ump against each other in the various acting categories…
Right now, the one to place a bet on for this particular situation is Spotlight. It seems that both Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo are sitting in excellent spots to be not only nominated in Best Supporting Actor, but the main players to win the Oscar there as well. That doesn’t even take into consideration the rest of their male cast, which is all going Supporting as well. It’s likely that Keaton and Ruffalo are it in Supporting Actor, but you could at least make the claim that Billy Crudup, Liev Schreiber, and Stanley Tucci are somewhat in the mix as well. It’s almost an embarrassment of riches for Spotlight, and rightly so. If there’s one close to sure thing in regard to this situation,it’s this film getting two nominees in Supporting Actor. Right now, I’d all but bank on it happening.

The other potential big chance for this to happen is if Carol does indeed end up seeing Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara go Lead for their performances. Right now, that’s only happening at the Golden Globes, but the Oscar could wind up following. Currently, Blanchett is in Best Actress and Mara is in Best Supporting Actress, where both are all but locked in, though if both ultimately are in Actress, anything could happen. Conventional wisdom centers on Blanchett getting in alone or both of them sneaking in, but I have a sneaky suspicion that we could see a situation much like the Cannes Film Festival where only Mara winds up getting in. It’s just a hunch at the current moment, but don’t sleep on Mara if this somehow comes to pass. It would be a close call though, I’ll concede that. They’re in different categories right now anyway, so keep that in mind as well here. Plus, […]

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Here in the heart of the month of November, I think it’s high time to take my second crack at some Golden Globe predictions. As previously mentioned last month, I’ll be mixing these in with Oscar predictions somewhat consistently going forward, but early Globe picks are always really interesting to me, especially since sometimes you’re still guessing category placement (which is slowly being reported in the trades this week) and just what the tastes of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will look like at the current time. They’re almost impossible to accurately guess off the bat the first couple of times around, but that little factoid has yet to stop me from trying all the same. Here goes nothing once again!
What you’ll notice below this time around with the predictions is that we have some noticeable changes as well as some films/contenders that are settling in for a long awards run. Category swaps have come and affected Joy, Love & Mercy, and Trumbo, for example (not to mention confirmation of where The Martian is competing), but we still have the major players in Spotlight and such to look at. My hunch right now is that Spotlight is still able to do very well with the HFPA in advance of Oscar, with The Martian not far behind. This would set up the narrative that the two of those are going head to head for the big Academy Award statues. That can certainly change, especially if one of The Hateful Eight, Joy, or The Revenant really blows voters away, but there’s no reason not back that pair right now. As a bonus, I’m including a seventh potential slot in predictions for now, just to open the race up a bit. I may or may not keep it going forward (if so, it’ll likely only be as we get closer to nominations, not initially), but it’s there at the current moment, as you’ll see below…
Here you go ladies and gentlemen, my latest look at how the Golden Globe awards could shape up:
Best Picture (Drama)
1. Spotlight
2. The Revenant
3. Brooklyn
4. The Hateful Eight
5. Room
If there’s a sixth: The Danish Girl
If there’s a seventh: Bridge of Spies
Best Picture (Comedy or Musical)
1. The Martian
2. Joy
3. The Big Short
4. Trainwreck
5. Grandma
If there’s a sixth: Our Brand is Crisis
If there’s a seventh: Spy
Best Actor (Drama)
1. Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
2. Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
3. Eddie Redmayne – The […]

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Of the many things that you can consider when thinking about the Oscar race, one that I like to ponder from time to time is which categories will be the most competitive. I hinted at this in another piece this week, but certain categories are shaping up to be stronger than other ones. That being said, instead of looking at strengths and weaknesses, I figured today I’d see which ones seem like they’ll be the most competitive. That opens things up to more combine quality and quantity, as it were. This is a wide open year in general, so it’s only fitting that so many categories seem to be that way as well…
Below are the half dozen most competitive categories, as it stands right now:
6. Best Actress – After a bit of a drought, we have a group of Actress contenders that we can be quite proud of. Of course, who will win is wide open, but it’s not a situation where there’s only six or seven legitimate contenders for a nod. Vying for a nom here are the likes of Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, Blythe Danner, Brie Larson, Jennifer Lawrence, Carey Mulligan, Charlotte Rampling, Saorise Ronan, Maggie Smith, Lily Tomlin, and more. That’s ten right there. Nothing to sneeze at, right? It’s a tight race, and one that’s certainly among the most competitive that the Academy will have to offer us this year.
5. Best Visual Effects – Here’s a category that will really be an embarrassment of riches. Basically, there’s a bunch of different styles on display that voters will have to choose from. Contenders like Ant-Man, Avengers: Age of Ultron, In the Heart of the Sea, Jurassic World, Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian, The Revenant, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Walk, and more will be up for a nomination. Usually, this category has one or two frontrunners and then some also rans, but that’s not the case this year. I can see it going any number of different ways, and that’s a delight.
4. Best Supporting Actor – As jam packed as any category this year, Supporting Actor could be a photo finish. Among the large number of contenders, there are the likes of Paul Dano, Benicio del Toro, Bruce Dern, Joel Edgerton, Idris Elba, Sam Elliot, Ryan Gosling, Tom Hardy, Michael Keaton, Harvey Keitel, Seth Rogen, Mark Ruffalo, Kurt Russell, Mark Rylance, and Jason Segel. That’s […]

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Maybe I was just distracted by watching the New York Mets in the playoffs this fall, but I think the time is flying folks. It’s already November, which is getting to be late in the game. A couple of precursors have already announced their nominees, we only really have four unseen major contenders left (The Big Short, The Hateful Eight, Joy, and The Revenant), and some presumed frontrunners in a couple of categories have emerged. At the same time though, we’re almost done with the year and no category is locked up yet (yes, not even Best Animated Feature…the closest one would be Best Foreign Language Feature). Simply put, it’s an exciting time and a perfect moment to update my Academy Award predictions yet again.
The big thing people have been debating (besides if The Martian can actually win in the big categories, but I’ll be tackling that in an article early next week) is how much Steve Jobs is hurt by the lack of a strong box office. Some think it’s barely been affected, some think it’s dead in the water. Me? I think the truth is somewhere in between. I’m of the opinion that wins might be a struggle now without the public interest that was expected, and even a few down the line nominations might be tougher to get, but the majority of its campaign should remain the same. Voters don’t consider box office like analysts do, so this is more perception than actual reality. Steve Jobs was hurt by bombing financially, but it’s still very much in the race. It’s certainly something to keep in mind though, moving forward…
Here now is how I see the Oscar nominations, as of the beginning of November:
BEST PICTURE
1. Spotlight
2. The Martian
3. Room
4. The Revenant
5. Joy
6. The Hateful Eight
7. Steve Jobs
8. Brooklyn
9. The Big Short
10. Carol
Next in line: 11. The Danish Girl 12. Bridge of Spies 13. Inside Out 14. Son of Saul 15. Sicario 16. In the Heart of the Sea 17. Concussion 18. Miles Ahead (possible 2016 release) 19. Beasts of No Nation 20. Macbeth 21. Mad Max: Fury Road 22. Black Mass 23. 45 Years 24. 45 By the Sea 25. Suffragette 26. Truth 27. Straight Outta Compton 28. Our Brand is Crisis 29. Anomalisa 30. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
BEST DIRECTOR
1. Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
2. Ridley Scott – The Martian
3. David O. Russell – Joy
4. Quentin Tarantino – […]